Word of the Day

Greatest Technological Inventions of the Past 25 Years

DNA Profiling

CSI owes a debt of gratitude to Sir Alec Jefferys. Without his genetic fingerprinting technique, a big chunk of their show would be mission. Thanks to Sir Jefferys, law enforcement can identify people based on any bit of DNA left behind at a crime scene. Though he made the technology commercially available in 1987, it took a few years for it to catch on. Even today, convicts can be released from prison if the DNA evidence proves them innocent.